The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 137
Hadith and Sunnah of the Holy Propheta 137. Were that so, it would not be possible for the Muslims to relate any portion of the biography of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be on him). It should be observed that the events of the life of our lord and master, what kind of life he led in Mecca before his advent, and in what year he called people to his. Prophethood, and in what order people embraced Islām, and how were they persecuted by the disbelievers in the ten Meccan years, and how the wars began, and in which of them the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be on him) took part himself, and to what regions the rule of Islam had extended in his lifetime, and whether he addressed letters to the rulers of the time, inviting them to Islām, and if he did so, what was their response, and after his death what were the victories achieved during the time of Hadrat Abu Bakr RA, and what difficulties he had to contend with, and what countries were conquered in the time of Haḍrat ‘Umar RA, all these matters are known through Aḥādīth and the statements of the companions of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of. Allāh be on him). If the Aḥādīth amount to nothing, it would not only be difficult but would be impossible to discover the events of those times and in such a case the opponents of Islām would be free to invent whatever they like concerning the events of the life of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be on him) and of the lives of his companions, (May Allāh be pleased with them). . We would thus afford to the enemies of Islām a great opportunity of making baseless attacks against Islām and we would have to confess that all the events related in the. Aḥādīth are baseless and imaginary, so much so, that even the names of the companions of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be on him) are not known